Gone So Long
by VampAmber
Summary: Three years after the events of "Under the Sky So Blue", Vash still hadn't come back, even though he had promised. But then he just shows up out of nowhere. Where was he all those years? And what about Meryl? A bit of romantic fluff with some plot.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Notes:** I fully realize I can't write well at all. I fully realize that whatever spews forth on the keyboard courtesy of my brain is crap right from the get-go. But does that stop me? No. I keep on writing. Well, I'd like to know what everybody thinks about this, because I already am half-way through the second chapter. If it's wanted, I'll post it. If not, I don't really see the point in bothering. So read, review, tell me how I did well, how I did bad. 

**Disclaimer:** I don't own _Trigun, I don't even own the episodes. I probably don't even own this idea, but I at least own the exact order in which the words appear here. I take solace in that._

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            _A chaste kiss.__ Something so little, yet it seemed so big at that moment. It led to more, much more, but at that time it was just a kiss._

_            I had followed him up that cliff, still full of worry about his injuries, afraid he might accidentally hurt himself up there. He startled me, though, when he started to sing._

_            "So, on the first night, a pebble falls to the earth from somewhere. Sound life."_

_            It was a song I knew from my childhood, but it had been years and years since I had heard it. And he sung it so well…_

_            Before I had realized, I had started singing as well. "So, on the second night, the pebble's children hold hands and sketch a waltz. Sound life. "He looked over at me for the first time, quite possibly just noticing my presence. He smiled. It was good to see him smile again._

_            I sat down next to him, glancing first at the town below us, then at the stars above us, then finally at him. Our eyes met, and I would've sworn I saw his sparkle. That made my heart flutter, even though I tried my hardest to not let it affect me._

_            "The stars are pretty tonight, aren't they?" I asked him, hoping that slight tremor in my voice was just in my imagination._

_            "Yeah," he answered, still staring up at the night sky. "They're pretty every night."_

_            "Yeah," I muttered. I couldn't come up with a single other thing to say._

_            They almost never change, the stars," Vash said a few minutes later, braking what seemed to me a very awkward silence. "For so long I've watched them. Yet they rarely change. Like me."_

_            "What do you mean by that, Vash?" Now I was confused._

_            "I never change. Never better, never worse. Always the same, just like the stars." He looked up again and sighed._

_            "I think you're pretty great the way you are…" I shut my mouth quickly before any more traitorous words could come out of it._

_            "No. I'm no good, don't you get that? He died by my own hands!" He wailed at that, sounding and looking just like a wounded animal. His face in his hands, his shoulders racked with tears, that sight broke my heart. I wrapped my arms around him in a hug, making soothing noises to the best of my abilities. I never was too maternal. "You had no other choice, Vash."_

_            "But I did, there had to have been another choice." But at least now the sobs were lessening enough that they were no longer painfully racking his body._

_            "Yes, there was another choice, Vash. That choice was letting those people kill me and Millie. But that was not an option, Vash, there'll never be an option like that." I hugged him tighter, even started stroking his hair. It was soft, even through all the gel he must use to keep it up like that._

_            "There had to've been a better choice, there had to've been." The sobs were slowing down considerably, and he was starting to return the hug, although much more tentatively than I would've expected from the infamous Vash._

_            "But there wasn't. You saved us, Vash. You have to remember that. It's how things work." I stopped stroking his hair and hugged him tightly, and for once, he hugged me back completely, squeezing for all he was worth._

_            "Thank you Mer, thank you so much," he whispered into my neck. My heart nearly exploded out of my chest at that, his breath on such sensitive flesh. He lifted his head to look me straight in the eye. Those tear-stained pools of aqua gazed at me, making my heart break all over again at the sadness which lay in their depths. "Thank you," he whispered again, barely above a breath._

_            The kiss startled me. But after the initial surprise, instinct kicked in at least enough for me to kiss him back. It was short and sweet, and oh, he smelled so wonderful… I was in heaven… when he broke the kiss. That beautiful kiss…_

_            "I'm so sorry, Meryl!" he said, using my full first name._

_            "Don't be," I whispered, brushing my fingers across his cheek, trying to rid it of the tears that should never have been shed. "Don't be."_

_            We held hands for the rest of the night, my head rest on his shoulder, and his head resting on mine._

_***_

_            "But you'll be back, right?" I asked, eyes filled with tears._

_            "I wouldn't want to leave a good woman like you behind, now would I?" He said with a laugh, brushing a tear away from my cheekbone with his finger. _

_            He was going after his brother, and there was nothing I could do to stop him. The past few days had been the best of my life, with Vash and I together. Sweet little kisses, holding hands, watching the sunsets together. When he wasn't acting like an idiot or a womanizer, he actually was quite sweet. He even went as far as finding a bouquet of flowers to give to me, though I haven't a clue where he got them._

_            But now he was leaving, and it hurt so much, because I knew there was a chance he wouldn't return. From what little he had told me, it sounded like Knives was someone to fear._

_            He wiped another tear off my cheek and leaned in for a gentle kiss. "Don't you worry, Mer. I wouldn't dream of leaving you to be snatched up by some other lucky guy, just waiting in the wings for the right moment." He leaned back in and kissed my cheek as I laughed at that._

_            "I love you, Vash," I whispered, for the first time, slightly hesitant._

_            "I love you too, Mer. More than mere words could ever say. I will be back for you, I promise." He smiled, then, a truly Vash smile. He said he would be back._

            "He said so," Meryl said with a sigh. She leaned forward in her chair, staring past the edge of the back porch into the emptiness that lay beyond it.

            "What did you say, Meryl?" Millie asked, bouncing Nicky on her hip as she walked onto the porch from the back door.

            "Oh, nothing Millie. Just thinking out loud.." Meryl leaned back into her chair as Millie sat down in the next one over, shifting Nicky into her lap in the process.

            "You were thinking about him again, weren't you Meryl? You were thinking about Mr. Vash again?" Millie ruffled her two year-old son's hair as he squirmed in her lap and started gnawing on his cookie.

            "So what if I was?" Meryl said defensively. "Doesn't mean nothing." Acting much younger than her actual age, she pulled her knees up to her chest in the rocking chair, with an expression on her face that could only be described as a childish pout.

            Millie just stared at her friend, wishing she would feel better soon. "Well, big-big sister is making dinner. It should be done in a half an hour, if you're hungry." Millie smiled over at her best friend, who forced a weak smile in response.

            "Thanks Millie, I'll be in in just a little while. I just want to watch the sunset first." Meryl pulled her baggy homemade sweater closer to herself, trying to keep out the slight chill that had came with dusk.

            "Oh." Millie smiled brightly and got back up, switching Nicky up to her shoulders. "Okay, see you at the table."

            "Mer-Mer!" the little dark-haired boy yelled, before offer her a slobber-covered half-eaten oatmeal cookie to Meryl.

            Meryl laughed at this, a genuine laugh for once. "No thanks Nick, you can keep it. I can wait 'til dinner." She smiled and waved, and he waved back, placing the cookie back into his mouth.

            After the door swung shut, Meryl pulled her hair out of the ponytail she had taken to wearing lately. Her silky hair fell down past her shoulders, and she shook her head to even the clumped strands out. "You said you were going to come back, damnit," she whispered to no one but herself.

            "And I never lie." The voice came from behind her, and before she even knew it, she screamed and bashed the thing upside it's head with the side table. "Gee, I kin really you mished me," the blonde man said before falling over, a huge lump already forming on his head.

            Meryl gasped. "V… V… Vash?" she stuttered. 

            "No thanksh, I'm jus' fine…" He said, before promptly passing out.

            "Millie!" Meryl screamed at the top of her lungs, already stopping down to try and wake Vash up. "Get out here NOW!"

            Millie rushed out, just as Meryl was bunching up her sweater up under Vash's head in a poor imitation of a pillow, all while she was shivering in her thin shirt. Most of Millie's family had followed to see what all the fuss was about.

            "Omigosh! Meryl, is that… Mr. Vash?" Millie immediately grabbed a pillow off a nearby couch to use instead of the lumpy green sweater.

            "I think it is, Millie. Help me get him inside to a bed." She started lifting him, but was pushed aside lightly as two of Millie's older brothers picked him up and headed towards the guest room.

            "Wonder what gave him that big bump on his head like that?" Millie asked innocently.

            Meryl laughed nervously. "Heh heh, no clue Millie, no clue." Millie just shrugged.

            His clothing was shabby, the red coat that was his signature by now was in dire need of a total restitching. His face looked worn, more so than it had three years ago, more than it ever should in Meryl's opinion. His hair was just as she had remembered it, spikey as always (he must've gotten a haircut somewhat recently), though it looked a bit dirty and dusty. The rest of him looked dirty and dusty, as well, but around here dusty was normal. There were new scars, also. After Meryl had shooed Millie and her family away, she started to try and clean the newest of the wounds, the cuts and scrapes that he seemed to always have, with a wet cloth. "What have you been doing, Vash, all these years? Why didn't you come back to me sooner?" She asked, expecting no response anyway. She sighed and continued washing him.

            She washed him as well as she could, under the circumstances. She blushed furiously at the thought of removing his pants to clean further, and giggled nervously as she tucked him in, trying to banish those thoughts. Staring longingly at his face, she sighed and pulled the desk chair over next to the bed.

            Hours later, Millie tapped on the open door lightly before peeking her head in. "Meryl? It's really late, you going to bed soon?" She looked Vash's covered figure over, trying to see if she could tell how well he was doing.

            "Naw, Millie. I think I'll stay up a little longer." Meryl then yawned.

            "You sure, Mer? You look pretty tired." Her voice was filled with concern.

            "Yeah." Meryl stifled back another yawn. "Actually, though, I could use something to do. Could you bring me my sewing kit?" she glanced over at the ragged coat hanging on the back of the door.

            "And lots of red thread. Right," Millie said, following her friend's line of sight to behind the door. 

            It was the middle of the night, far closer to dawn than dusk. Meryl yawned for the second time in the last minute, but still she kept on sewing. Memories flooded back with each stitch, memories of the other times she had fixed this coat. "Almost done," she muttered under her breath. With a few last deft twists of the needle, she knotted off the thread and held the coat up for inspection. She looked it over in the light provided by the single lamp she had been working by the whole night and grinned in satisfaction. "Ah, there." She nodded to herself. "Finally finished."

            The lump under the sheets moved and moaned, which startled Meryl into jumping up out of the chair and dropping the red coat on the floor. "Uuuuughhhhh…" the muffled voice groaned.

            "Vash? Are you okay?" She moved the blanket off his face, where it had managed to move itself during the night, and was glad to see him waking up.

            Vash opened his eyes, blinked a few times, then stared at Meryl briefly, squinting. "Rem?" he asked, sounding confused and groggy.

            "Who's Rem?" Meryl asked, now more confused than Vash.

            "Meryl?" Vash asked, sounding weak now, no longer confused.

            "You okay Vash? I'm so sorry I hit you, I didn't know it was you." Meryl leaned in closer.

            "Like anybody else could be this cute?" Vash laughed half-heartedly, no longer groggy.

            Even though she hadn't seen him for three years, old habits die hard, and she smacked his arm while she laughed. She gasped as she realized what she had done. "Omigosh! I'm sorry Vash!"

            But he just chuckled. "No problem, Mer. I kinda missed that, anyway." He chuckled again, which made Meryl smile.

            "I missed you so much, Vash," Meryl said, losing the smile.

            "And I missed you too, Mer," Vash replied, his eyes starting to water around the edges just slightly.

            Meryl stood upright at that. "Then why didn't you come back sooner? Why did you leave me waiting for three whole years? I thought you were dead, I thought Knives had killed you. If you missed me so much, why did you stay away so long?" She was on the edge of screaming, but she was able to keep at least that much control.

            "I can explain everything, Meryl. Please calm down?" One look at Vash and Meryl stopped the pacing she had just started.

            She stood in front of Vash, hands now placed on her hips. "You said you could explain? So, explain then." She stood there, her eyes steeled, the single tear on her left cheek already forgotten.

            "Well, as you know, it all started when I went to meet Knives…"

TBC…


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Notes:** I apologize for taking so long to get this up, and I apologize for it being so short. But I figured it'd be better to put up most of a chapter than wait a few months and put up the whole thing. I have an actual idea of where this is going, and it's probably quite cliché, but I'm trying to actually finish a fic for once. Anyway, enjoy the chapter, constructive criticism is welcome and pleaded for, and yes, cliché, but hopefully not that bad.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own _Trigun_, I don't own any of the characters, and I barely own Nicky. I barely own the plot, and I definitely don't own the idea. But I own this story enough that it's mine. So yays! 

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            "I shot him a couple of times, so where he passed out. I bandaged his wounds and started back towards town, carrying him. I was hoping to get him help. Not just for the gunshots though, real help."

            "Half way back, I sat down for a rest. I guess he must've woken up then, or maybe a little earlier, I'm not sure. Anyway, before I knew it, I was waking up a few hours later, sporting an enormous lump on the back of my head. He had apparently snuck up from behind me, taken back his gun from me, and clocked me on the head with it, probably after finding it empty of bullets. After I had realized what had happened, I followed the foot steps in the sand."

            "He kept killing, and each time I followed the reports, always hoping the next town would be the last. Two and a half years after the battle in the desert, I finally managed to catch up with him without him slipping through my fingers once again. Oddly enough, it was near what was left of the city of July."

            "We fought for almost an hour, the sound of each shot echoing over the walls of the canyon. I shot his gun, and it slid over the cliff's edge. He jumped after it and just missed it. But he was off balance when he jumped. He toppled over, and was only just able to grab the edge with one hand. I rushed over to help him; I wanted it to end, but not like that. It was one of the farthest drops I had ever seen, and there was my brother hanging off the edge of it."

            "'Take my hand Knives!' I had yelled." 

"He just laughed at that. 'But how, dear brother, can I trust you when all you want is to kill me?' he had asked after he finished laughing." 

"'Not like this, Knives. And I only wanted to stop you, not kill you.' He slipped a little farther. 'Please let me help you!' I yelled, afraid now." 

"He just stared up at me. The rock underneath his hand shifted then, and he slipped even further, so close to falling now. His face changed. His voice was no longer mocking as he said 'Help me, Vash.'" 

"I grabbed his hand and started pulling him up immediately. 'I'll get you all the help you need, Knives. Everything's going to be okay…' As I had been pulling him up, he had grabbed his gun off the ledge it had landed on and fired at me. I dodged enough that it didn't hit my heart, but the pain in my shoulder made me scream and let his hand go. He started scrabbling up to get a second shot in, but I couldn't let him do that. So I kicked him. But through the haze of the pain, I completely forgot about the blade in my boot, which had been triggered without my knowing at some point during the fight."

"The look on his face… He stared up at me, choking on his own blood, hatred in his eyes. I… had kicked him in the throat. He lost his grip and fell over the edge. I started to crawl over to the edge, thinking in vain that I might be able to catch his hand again. I didn't catch it, and couldn't stand to watch, so I started crawling away. But I passed out then, from loss of blood, I guess. I had four gaping wounds, so I must've lost a lot of blood."

"I woke up a few weeks later in the nearest town. They told me how long I'd been out, and that Knives had been found dead on the canyon floor a few days after I had been found. After I was well enough, I started searching for you." Vash finished his story, and finally looked up from his fidgeting hands to see Meryl's reaction.

She was a little teary-eyed, but smiled as Vash looked at her. "Wow. That was some story. I'm sorry I yelled at you now." She sat down next to him on the bed and hugged him.

He hugged her back and sighed happily. Meryl yawned, and only then did she remember that she had been up most of the night fixing Vash's coat.

"You're tired, you should probably go to bed now," he said quietly, even though he really didn't want her to leave.

"I'm not leaving you," she said, not breaking the hug.

Vash just laughed. "Fine, be that way." He leaned back, and Meryl, not wanting to ever let go, leaned with him. Finally, he just lay down completely. Meryl, still wearing the now-ruined green sweater, curled up next to him above the covers. She yawned again. "I love you, Vash," she whispered.

He kissed her on the top of her head. "I love you too, Mer."

***

Vash woke up a little while later, the sun still not up, to a shivering body next to him. He was confused at first, until he looked over to see Meryl still next to him and still on top of the covers. Then, as gently as he could so as not to wake her, he pulled the covers out from underneath her and covered her up. The shivering lessened as the blanket did its job. Vash smiled and lay back down; glad he hadn't disturbed her slumber. His smiled widened about as much as it could as Meryl wrapped her arms around him and curled in even closer to him. 'Life is good,' he thought as he fell asleep with that smile plastered across his face.

***

"She's a nice girl, you know," Rem commented before taking a sip of tea.

"Yeah, great," Vash said through a mouthful of cookies, crumbs flying in every direction.

Rem laughed. "You never could resist those." Vash shook his head as he stuffed two more into his mouth. "You're here for more than just cookies, though. Another reason."

"Was dat?" Vash asked before shoving one last delicious cookie into his mouth.

"You wanted my approval?" She took another sip of tea as she waited for the red-coated man to finish chewing.

"Yeah. Approval. That was it!" He laughed and stuck his hand behind his head. "So, you like Meryl then?" He asked, goofy grin on his face.

"I told you already. I think my descendent is a great girl. I approve." She took one last sip of tea before setting her cup down.

"Wha? Descendent?" Vash was dumbfounded.

"Goodbye Vash," Rem said sadly.

"Wait! What do you mean by…?"

The dream faded off into nothingness.

***

It was one in the afternoon when Vash woke up with a jolt. A dark-haired ball of energy had just flung itself onto the bed, making the frame shake and waking the two inhabitants.

"What the?" Vash mumbled, still not one hundred percent awake.

"Huh?" Meryl muttered, sitting up and starting to wipe the sleep out of her eyes. At least, she tried to. She was interrupted as that ball of energy flung itself onto her lap.

"Mer-Mer!" yelled Nicky. "Lun'time, Mer-Mer!" Bouncing on the bed, the hyper toddler grinned and glanced over at Vash. "Misser Vash! Lun'time!"

"Nicky! Off the bed, now!" Millie said as she poked her head around the doorway. The toddler jumped off the bed and looked down at his feet for all of five seconds before running off to the kitchen. "You're up now, Mister Vash?" Millie asked, before realizing how obvious the answer was. "I'm so sorry about Nicky waking you. I didn't realize he was headed here. You feeling better now, Mister Vash?"

Vash nodded, still half asleep.

Glancing over at Meryl, who was finally getting to wipe her eyes, Millie smiled and nodded herself. "I'll leave you two alone now. Little-big sister made sandwiches for lunch. Come and eat whenever you're ready." With a wave and a knowing smile, Millie went off in the same direction as her son, but at a much slower pace.

Now awake, Vash looked over at Meryl, and after the initial awe in the fact that he finally had his Meryl back, he tilted his head and asked "Who was the little boy?"

"That was Nicky, Millie's son," Meryl replied. She had never been much of a morning person, and her mind didn't care that morning had been over for over an hour.

"And the father…?" He let the question hang in the air, afraid he already knew the answer.

He did, and Meryl nodded, the look of tears that refused to form in her eyes. "Yes, Wolfwood was the father." She inhaled loudly and lay back down.

"Is she okay?" he asked, lying down next to her. She nodded and he placed his arm around her. She moved her head so it was resting on his chest.

"'He's watching us from heaven,' it's what she keeps saying. It's how she gets by, I guess." She sighed and closed her eyes, weighing the choice of going back to sleep or not.

"Cute kid," he commented, closing his eyes as well. In his opinion, Wolfwood wasn't the only one in heaven. With the warmth of her body against his and the scent of her hair filling his nostrils, he couldn't think of any place that could possibly be better than this.

"Yeah," she replied sleepily. Yawning, she snuggled up closer, nearly asleep already, her choice made for her.

"No lunch?" He asked playfully, though completely willing to go back to sleep himself.

"Later." She almost yawned out the word.

"Mmmkay." And for the second time in less than twelve hours, Vash fell asleep with an enormous grin plastered on his face.

TBC……….


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Notes:** Once again, here I am, posting a chapter that I'm not satisfied with. But I can't figure out what's wrong with it, and nobody else will tell me, so I'm posting it in hopes that it's just my internal perfectionist being a brat. Anyway, this is all in flashbacks (hence the overuse of italics), therefore it's all mostly stuff I made up off the top of my head. My apologies for there not being much in the way of characters from the anime, but I'm working on back story, which is always fun. As always, enjoy, review, and no throwing of rotten vegetables. Please?  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own any of the characters or places from Trigun, though considering most of the stuff in this chapter is original, I almost don't have to say that. But I do anyway, to cover my own arse. So please don't sue?

* * *

_ The young boy awkwardly wiped a tear from his eye, trying his hardest not to break the hug.  
"Soon, we're going to find a planet. Then we'll be together again." Rem smiled and led the young boy to his pod. Micheal Saverem never saw his mother again.  
After what had only seemed like moments, Micheal woke up. Looking up eagerly, expecting to see his mother's smiling face greeting him, his smile faded when he saw that it was only his aunt. "C'mon hun," Aunt Laurel said as she held out a hand for him to help him up. Still groggy, he stumbled as he got up, reaquiring his 'land legs'.  
"Where's mom?" He asked after regaining his balance. "She hasn't been waiting too long, has she?"  
"The trip only took five years, hun, but..." His aunt's expression told it all, without need to finish the sentence.  
But Micheal had to make certain, maybe from the shock, he couldn't believe it. "But? She's okay, isn't she?"  
"She... Didn't make it. Apparently something went wrong with the ships. We were all going to die if they crashed, so she went back. She saved us all, at the cost of her own life." A few seconds of depressing silence followed her explanation, before the two broke down crying.  
Drying off his eyes after about five minutes of crying, he sniffled and tried speaking. That failed, so he coughed and tried again. "What am I gonna do now?"  
"You can come_ _and live with me and Joseph. You can be like our son, since we can't have one. Would that be okay with you? He nodded and she hugged him, tears starting to flow once again.___

* * *

_ Losing your dad at age seven was bad enough, but then losing your mom eight years later (even if it only felt like three) was worse. But at least Micheal had his mother's sister and her husband to stay with, so it could've been much worse. After awhile, most of the others that had known Rem started to lose the memory. But Micheal never forgot. When the society had built up enough to keep records, Micheal was just listed as Laurel and Joseph's son. That only served to depress Micheal further. His mother was forgotten, just a name on the list of people who didn't make it through the first few year; those with someone to remember their names, at least.___

* * *

_ Chink, chink, chink. The chisel went further into the stone as chips of granite flew off in random directions. The tombstone Micheal had been working on for the past seven months was almost complete.  
"Micheal, your friend is here to visit," Laurel called from the back door. Nine years after landing, the houses were simple but at least they were houses. "Should I have her come back?"  
Her? Micheal tried to figure out who it could be, but had no idea. "Yeah, go ahead," he called back, curious as to who the visitor could possibly be.  
He looked over his shoulder across the back yard, only to lay eyes on the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.  
"Hi Micheal," she said, waving meekly, yet smiling brightly.  
"Um... Hi." He smiled as well, trying to hide his confusion.  
Apparently, he didn't hide it well enough. "You don't remember me, do you?" He shook his head at her question. "I'm Emily. Your mom was friends with my mom, and we used to hang out." She smiled again, a smile that seemed to make his insides feel funny. "I searched all over after they started doing records, and finally found you after remembering you aunt's last name. I did this because I had stumbled upon your mom's name, and..."  
"It's okay Emily, that's actually got something to do with what I'm doing now." He pointed at the nearly-complete tombstone, missing only the dates.  
"'In loving memory of Remarie Meryl Saverem, mother, wife, and wonderful person. She will always be missed.' Aww, that's so beautiful." She edged closer, and then hesitantly hugged Micheal.  
He hugged back, and probably held it a little too long. Realizing this, he almost jumped back in his hurry to not scare Emily. The awkwardness this brought about was interrupted by a call from the back door.  
"Dinner time, Micheal. Invite your little friend, too." Aunt Laurel closed the door, and Micheal realized that he had smelled the food all along, but had been sidetracked enough to not notice.  
"Join me for dinner? My aunt's a great cook," he said, extending his hand out in open invitation, glad for the distraction.  
She giggled and nodded. "I'd love to." She smiled, showing off all her perfect little teeth, and followed Micheal inside._

_

* * *

_

_ Emily was the first female Micheal had truly let himself love after his mother's death. Aunt Laurel he had loved, just not very strongly. His mother's death had really affected him, and Emily understood that. She went with him every year to visit the tombstone memorial he had hand-carved, and made sure that their son knew all about his grandmother. Named Kristopher, after his mother's father, he was born not quite two years after Emily and Micheal's wedding at the age of twenty-three. He grew up hearing all the stories about his grandmother, which Micheal enjoyed telling even more than Kristopher enjoyed hearing them._

* * *

_ "Gramma-auntie!" Kris yelled before jumping into Laurel's lap.  
"Whoa there, boy. I'm old and brittle; you have to watch the bones. Might turn to dust any moment." She hugged her great-nephew and laughed with the other adults.  
"You're not that old, Laurel. Besides, with age comes true beauty." Micheal smiled. With his thirty one years, he had become quite handsome, just like his mother had always said would happen.  
"Wait a second. Compliments? What do you want?" Laurel asked, suspicious now.  
"Well, we were hoping for dinner," he replied, laughing.  
"Just dinner? Boy, you must learn to keep the big compliments for things much more than just food for your belly," Laurel said before joining him in laughter.  
"We saw gramma Remarie's grave today," beamed Kris proudly, as if looking at a carved stone near the S.E.E.D.S. crash site was that much of an accomplishment.  
"Well, didja say hi for me?" Laurel asked, as she always did when her grand-nephew informed her of the family's annual trips the graveyard.  
"Yup, just like I promised." He smiled widely then, showing off his missing front tooth.  
"Well, that's good for you," she replied before scooting him out of the way and getting up out of the rocking chair.  
"I'll help you with dinner, Aunt Laurel," Emily volunteered.  
"Why thank you, dear."_

_

* * *

__ Ten years had passed, and Kristopher no longer delighted in visiting his grandmother's memorial. As had been the ritual, Micheal was once again visiting, just as he did every year. Emily had stayed home this time, though, to give him privacy to "talk" to her. As he was approaching, he saw a blonde man in a tattered coat walking away from the graveyard quickly, seemingly coming from the direction of his mother's area.  
"How odd," Micheal muttered to himself, then shrugged and headed in himself, humming a tune his mother had been fond of.  
_

_

* * *

_

_ Vash was depressed at seeing Rem's memorial tombstone. The words were dirty and moss-covered, and looked as if no one ever took care of it. The name had been too hard to clear, so he had only seen bits of it. What he saw of the inscription had been "In lvin memoy of Remri My Saverem, oer, we, and wderul prsn. Sh wil alay be misd." But the stone had also given him hope, the flowers on the would-be grave not even a year old. She had living relations, he assumed. He could maybe even track down her family. He rushed off, not even noticing the man walking towards the cemetery, carrying the same kind of flowers that had been dying near the stone. He was too ecstatic that he could finally find a piece of_ _Rem!_


End file.
